* And over.
1Ki 4:7
* the sycamore trees.
The Hebrew {shikmin,} Syriac {shekmo,} and Arabic {jummeez,}
is the [sykomoros,] or sycomore, of the Greeks, so called from
[sykos,] a fig-tree, and [moros] a mulberry- tree, because it
resembles the latter in its leaves, and the former in its
fruits. "The sycamore," says Mr. Norden, "is of the height of
a beech, and bears its fruit in a manner quite different from
other trees: it has them on the trunk itself, which shoots
out little sprigs, in form of grape stalks, at the end of
which grow the fruit close to one another, almost like a
cluster of grapes. The tree is always green, and bears fruit
several times in the year, without observing any certain
seasons; for I have seen some sycamores that have given fruit
two months after others. The fruit has the figure and smell
of real figs, but is inferior to them in the taste, having a
disgusting sweetness. Its colour is a yellow, inclining to an
ochre, shadowed by a flesh colour. In the inside it resembles
the common figs, excepting that it has a blackish colouring
with yellow spots. This sort of tree is pretty common in
Egypt; the people, for the greater part, live on its fruit,
and think themselves well regaled when they have a piece of
bread, a couple of sycamore figs, and a pitcher of water."
1Ki 20:27
|